KU basketball receives letter of intent from Kelly Oubre Jr.

Kansas recruits Kelly Oubre, left, and King McClure watch from behind the bench during Late Night in the Phog, Friday, Oct. 4, 2013 at Allen Fieldhouse.

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Kelly Oubre Jr., a versatile 6-foot-7, 200-pound shooting guard/small forward from Findlay Prep High in Henderson, Nev., on Wednesday signed a letter of intent with Kansas University on the first day of the week-long early signing period.

Oubre, who is ranked No. 12 overall in the Class of 2014 by Rivals.com, committed to KU on Oct. 8. He chose KU over Kentucky and Florida.

“Kelly had an unbelievable spring and summer and really worked hard to elevate his national ranking,” KU coach Bill Self said. “He has great length but is a true wing. He can play either guard slot, the two or the three, and maybe some emergency point. He’s very skilled, explosive and what we like most about him is his toughness. We think he will be able to compete at this level from a toughness standpoint from day one.”

Oubre was born in New Orleans, moving to Richmond, Texas with his dad, Kelly Sr., in fourth grade in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

“Kelly comes from a great program at Findlay,” Self said of Oubre, who has averaged 23.0 points and 7.4 rebounds per game in Findlay’s first five games of the 2013-14 season. “He’s been coached by Jerome Williams, who is an ex-NBA player and has really helped Kelly a lot.

“Coach (Norm) Roberts did a great job recruiting Kelly and his father, Kelly Sr.,” Self added. “We think Kelly has a chance to impact our program in a way that very few freshmen have. He’s very well rounded. He’s an outstanding student, and we all believe and know he will be a tremendous addition to our program.”

Oubre, who averaged 22.7 points a game his junior year at Richmond’s Bush High, played for USA Basketball in October in the Developmental National Team Mini-Camp in Colorado Springs, Colo.

“I was up (at KU) a couple days. I could see the brotherhood they have. I see how in coach (Bill) Self’s program, they are all for it. They treat everybody like there’s nothing bigger than the team, even the guys who are one-and-done. Nobody is bigger than the program,” said Oubre Jr., who visited KU for Late Night in the Phog.

KU, which has two scholarships available in recruiting (those of senior Tarik Black and certain one-and-done Andrew Wiggins) is in the running for three players who will announce their decisions on Friday. They are No. 1 Jahlil Okafor, 6-10 from Chicago’s Whitney Young High; No. 4 Cliff Alexander, 6-8 from Chicago’s Curie High; and No. 5 Tyus Jones, 6-1 from Apple Valley (Minn.) High. Jones and Okafor have said all along they will be choosing the same school. It’s believed they are down to KU and Duke. Alexander has a final four of KU, Illinois, Memphis and DePaul. His girlfriend attends KU.

So, I was bored today and decided to do some recon on Tyus's, Cliff's, and Jahlil's twitter accounts. A few things I noticed:
1.) Tyus has a picture of him and his brother with Justise Winslow and Winslow is wearing a KU sweatshirt. He doesn't have any other pictures on his twitter referencing any other school.
2.) Jahlil has a picture on his Twitter with his dad posing with Bill Self. Again, he also doesn't have any other pictures referencing any other schools.
3.) As I looked at Cliff's twitter one of his retweets stood out to me. It's an apology from someone that wrote an article and the writer apparently mentions that Cliff and Jahlil won't play together. He goes on to say that "Mr. Okafor did NOT say they won't attend same school. My error." This was one day ago and both Cliff and Jahlil were tagged in the tweet.
Yes I have too much time on my hands but I was bored and wanted to be productive. Anyways, judging by this and their announcement times, I predict they all choose KU. If I'm wrong, oh well, we will still be awesome next year. I'm confident in my prediction though. RCJH and hell of a win last night guys!

Also just to note, I haven't added them on twitter and I'm not a twitter professional so the picture scenario could be that since I haven't followed them I'm not able to see all of the pictures. Either way, I'm sticking with my prediction.

I would love to get all three but it makes me sad. All three are most likely one and dones. Oubre has a chance to also be a one and done. They are huge talents but I love watching guys develop and get into the league like that. Beggars can't be choosers I guess.

Okafor and Jones appear headed to Duke, and Alexander is leaning to staying in State, although his mom said that is not true. It sure would help to replace the guys leaving after this year with another top 10 recruit(s) to pair up with Kelly.

Does anyone know if any other recruits on KU's list are going to commit in this period? Looking ahead we could have 2-5 scholarships to offer. Wiggins and Black for sure, Seldon, Joel, and Ellis possibly could leave too.

Oubre is not from Chicago. He grew up in New Orleans and his family moved to Houston after the hurricane. As for the others, we just won't' know until they announce. Everyone thought Wiggins was going to Florida State, remember? We will just have wait and see.

I have no inside knowledge. I don't know coach Self or any of the recruits on a personal basis. I am not an ESPN recruiting analyst. And this is all really just a guess if I am being quite honest with you...... but I think that Selden and Embiid will both come back. Reading about Wayne and seeing him on the floor, he genuinely looks like he is enjoying himself and isn't in a hurry to leave college. I think he will come back for another year and be the focal point after Wiggins leaves. I also think Embiid wants to stay a few years and hone his craft. You do improve in the NBA, but I think college is where you get the bulk of that. I think if he stays another year, he could be the top pick the following year. You won't get much better coaching then he's getting here. The thing I think our bigs struggle with when they hit the NBA is that they don't have the coaching there that they get at Kansas and I think that will effect Embiid in his decision. I think both will stay. That only leaves two scholarships and Oubre has taken one already. I do believe that more than likely there is going to be a transfer. I do not know who that is or why they will transfer.... but we don't have enough minutes and an awful lot of talent already in place and possibly coming in. I can see a kid that doesn't think he will ever play much going somewhere that he can get playing time. That being said, I think we have 3 openings total and with Oubre filling one of them.... here are my bold predictions.

I think Jones goes to Duke and Okafor comes to Kansas in a shocking development. I don't think they are on the same page as far as their top choice and ultimately I think they choose to both do whats best for them individually. It seems to me from what I've read that Okafor wants to come to Kansas. With Tharpe and Mason at the point, I don't know that Jones comes here.

Alexander is staying in Illinois. From all I have read and researched, it sounds like he wants to be THE star and he can have that at Illinois. Plus they are quietly assembling a good recruiting class.

Myles Turner won't go to Kansas because he's not first choice and seems upset about it from all I have seen. I think he ultimately ends up at Texas or Kentucky.

I think Vaughn ends up at Kansas bringing our recruiting total to three. He will be went after hard by coach Self after we land Okafor to round out the class.

There are just guesses from a guy who has no knowledge whatsoever about what these kids are thinking or what our players will ultimately do as far as the draft. It's fun to throw out there and see how close we are so I'm anxious for Friday and the chips to start falling.

I know he's a spring signing, but he was pretty big on Kansas until recently. What I have read does not look good for KU at this juncture. That could change, but I've heard he thinks Kansas should be recruiting him just as hard as the others they are after. He doesn't want to be "sloppy seconds" was how it was put.

The only reason I would think all of them would commit to Kansas is they want to be the next big class, like how Kentucky is this year. They seem to like the hype surrounding them and I feel like if they can keep that hype up then they will do whatever they can. Kansas is the only team they all agree on. And it would shock the world, which is what they're looking to do. Just my opinion at this point.

John, I was thinking the same thing. I used to live in Chicago before moving to Houston and continue to have many friends up there. Sadly, I don't like the rumors leaking from those in or close to this situation, which point to Duke getting Okafor/Jones and Uof I getting Lawrence. Hopefully we will still be in the game for Turner and Vaughn.